Legal News Archive: March 2014

When we drive to and from work or take our kids to school, we know that time is not always on our side. We struggle to make it to work to punch in before the boss notices. We drop our kids off as close to the building as possible even if that means charging ahead to a restricted area. We don’t always take the safest precautions when we are in a hurry. Not paying attention and struggling to make it to your destination on time, however, can have fatal results for you and for others.

Tragedy befell a small town in Arizona in 2012 when a handgun accidentally went off in one of the suites at a nonprofit entity. A bullet struck an employee in the head, and paramedics pronounced a 49-year-old man dead at the scene. An incident like this can happen anywhere, even in the small town where you may be living.

Rollover accidents are easy to avoid. But when they do occur, they can cause serious injuries and fatalities. They can occur on icy roads and during inclement weather, and are more likely to happen on rural roads instead of city streets. Nearly 75 percent of all rollover crashes occur in rural areas, according to Safercar.gov, a website affiliated with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

Pedestrian accidents amounted to 173 deaths in New York in 2013. Sadly, some of those deaths were related to school-aged children, in particular those from kindergarten through 8th grade. No matter how much we teach our children to pay attention and look both ways when crossing the road, sometimes there are distractions or unsafe measures that put them in the way of an oncoming vehicle. Conditions like heavy traffic areas, extreme weather conditions, snow pileup or icy sidewalks can all lead to injuries among school-aged children, particularly when it comes to intersections with no lights or crossing guards.

A recent case in Ohio brings to the forefront a hospital who is challenging the claims made by a patient’s family when the kidney of a family member of the patient was thrown out while waiting to be transplanted into the patient. The hospital is claiming there was no medical negligence, and that the kidney was thrown out because the nurse thought the kidney had already been replaced. Do you take this type of procedure for granted? What happens if you suspect a medical or surgical error may have occurred with you or someone you know, and how many medical errors are caught before it is too late?

News in North Carolina was recently punctuated by a story about a father who dragged his daughter from their vehicle after it had been hit repeatedly by another driver in a road rage incident. In an odd turn of events, the driver actually chased the father and daughter on foot after they ran into store to escape the violence. Earlier this month in Pennsylvania, a man died after a road rage shooting shortly after he had called 9-1-1- asking for help.

You answer the phone as if it’s any phone call from anyone, not thinking that the call could be life changing. Your child has been involved in a car accident and your world as you know it has changed forever. At this point you don’t know the severity and you are hoping for the best. What you might not know is that more than 9,000 children died in car accidents from 2002 to 2011. That is not a statistic for which you want to be a part.

How often do we think about the risks and prevention tactics for those involved in high-risk industries like the logging industry, where loggers face challenges that many of us cannot even imagine? What about those who face icy road conditions as part of their routine jobs? Trucking itself can be a dangerous job; and fatigue and other road distractions come into play as causes for many trucking accidents that have occurred over the years. But, ice trucking has become its own hazardous occupation, posing many different obstacles for those who must drive those rigs.

Spring break has a decades-old tradition in America as a time when college students take a breather from their studies, travel to distant, warm resort communities, party and find romance. Hollywood popularized spring break with movies such as “Where the Boys Are,” released in 1960 and set in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and “Palm Springs Weekend,” released in 1963.

We know how tempting it is to take it upon ourselves to complete household projects, repairs and renovations. Those televisions shows make it look so easy. With just a few simple tools and a few minutes to spare, we should have a new room or cabinet installation done in no time, right? Not so fast. Let’s not forget the people on the television shows are experts no matter how simple they make the renovation appear. After all, they have had years of practice making it all look seamless. They time-test their tools and make sure all is in working order before they demonstrate anything on television. The average consumer is not so lucky. We use the tools we have had for many years—often without regular repair or maintenance. We don’t check recall lists to see if our tools or appliances have been recalled. We’re sure nothing would happen to us.

You’ve seen it before. You’re driving behind someone who is driving erratically or speeding excessively. You try to keep your distance, and also know you must continue to drive with the flow of traffic. You sense impending danger and you don’t want to cause or be a part of a traffic accident. What should you do to ensure the safety of you, your passengers and those around you?

With today’s medical advancements, hernia surgeries can be performed at the outpatient level. The often are— at the rate of roughly 800,000 operations a year. For the patient, there is often no need to stay over night at the hospital and incur additional medical expense and time off from work. Patients can prepare for the operation by undergoing hours of fasting, and making sure a relative or friend is available for a ride home. It may sound like we have nothing to worry about when considering an operation that occurs so frequently. How can we be sure?

A hospital in Long Island, N.Y., took immediate steps to respond to a major health risk of contamination from the re-use of insulin pens. Such risks can expose diabetics to HIV, and hepatitis B and C. Officials at South Nassau Communities Hospital notified the news media on March 12, 2014 that they had sent letters to more than 4,000 patients who may have been affected by this incident. Although a pen can be used multiple times on the same person, it is widespread knowledge that insulin pens never should be used by more than one person. Each injection poses the risk of blood re-entering a cartridge, with the potential of contaminating the next recipient. This is not an isolated case. If you are a patient who receives insulin, you may want to learn more about this issue and seek proper counsel.

Just as with new homebuyers and the warning that cautions “let the buyer beware,” so should buyers be aware any time they purchase high ticket items, including planes and luxury vehicles. Many vehicles—old or new—pose risks to the owner if repairs and maintenance have not occurred on a regular basis. At times an owner who wants to sell the vehicle may say that all repairs and maintenance have be kept up. Other times, the purchase option is so enticing that we, as buyers, fail to do our own homework before signing on the dotted line. Doing so and you may find yourself facing an injury you did not expect.

Chemical spills in the home or place of employment are serious. Not only do they pose a threat to those in the area from the fumes, but once the product comes in contact with the skin severe burns may result. And, although the fumes might not produce any immediate burning, the fumes and physical contact with the skin could be disfiguring and deadly. Most of us can remember lessons in science class where some of us took the liberty to mix liquids that were not compatible. We always had water nearby, and seemingly often conducted our experiment under the supervision of a teacher. Did that give us the training for real life? Some of us now work in places of employment where chemicals are used on a daily basis: places such as dry cleaning facilities, pest and insect removal businesses, gasoline and oil plants, and science laboratories. Many of us come in contact with sulfuric acid, nitric acid and phosphoric acid. If proper precautions are not taken, the contact and exposure could be deadly.

In 2012, a country music concert made the news when bleachers that fans were sitting on collapsed and killed several on the ground below. In a golf tournament rock concert that same year, the tent that hosted the VIP party collapsed on partygoers, killing 1 person. More recently in 2013, an Ohio football game was the scene when several high school students were injured after field bleachers collapsed. What are some of the causes of collapses like this, and can they ever really be prevented?

Mass production of food has replaced ancient societies where people grew their own crops, hunted game or raised livestock. While highly unlikely, a gulp of a drink or a bite to eat can lead to food poisoning sending the consumer to the hospital—or the morgue. One resident of Northern California recalls becoming deathly ill in 2011 after ordering a hamburger at a restaurant for dinner. His first red flag was that the meat was pink. Two hours later, his stomach hurt, he had severe stomach cramps and became nauseated. Even after taking over the counter medications, his condition worsened. After two days in bed, he began vomiting blood he was treated at a local hospital.

A story in recent news reported a carbon monoxide leak at a mall that left the manager of one business dead, and several others on the way to the hospital. Emergency crews even reported feeling dizzy and nauseated as they responded to the scene. The manager was found in the heater room, downstairs from where the restaurant was located—presumably trying to determine the cause that was making so many people ill. Carbon monoxide detectors are not mandatory in all businesses in all states. How do you know that your favorite store or restaurant is taking the necessary precautions to ensure your safety when you are there?

Many jobs that pay well also pose high risks. We know that electricians, road workers and construction workers take their lives in their hands daily when encountering challenges posed at any number of job sites and in any number of variable conditions. Electrocution accidents are among the highest of risks, killing and severely disfiguring those in the field. Road workers risk their lives when they deal with erratic drivers and dangerous road conditions as they strive to make our roads better and improve town conditions. But what about the workers we don’t often recognize? Those who are loggers and ice truckers face conditions and situations that many of us cannot even imagine. We know it must be dangerous to saw down trees the size of buildings, or drive in road conditions that are extremely icy, but what are the distinct risks that those jobs pose, and how many are actually injured when doing so?

New studies show that a cat bite is just as critical as a dog bite. This means you may want to think twice when playing with the neighbor’s pet. Can a tiny cat bite develop into an injury that could be the base cause of a personal injury lawsuit? Some say you may have a case.

We cannot always stay indoors when inclement weather comes our way. Some of us drive in weather like this on such a routine basis that we take our travel for granted with the basic skills needed for driving in a snowstorm or rainstorm. We know we must remain focused on the task of driving. But, sometimes we’re thrown a curve ball when we encounter other effects of storms that impede our driving ability, or detours us from the route we would normally take. What are some other incidents that could occur as a result of stormy or windy weather conditions?

Medical Malpractice settlement in Pennsylvania for a young child who suffered from a severe injury to the intestinal tract due to a delay by the hospital and doctor in diagnosis and treating Necrotising Enterocolitis.Read More

Our client, a 52-year-old executive secretary had an extensive stay in a local Nassau County hospital. She was discharged and thereafter had persistent nausea and vomiting for a two-week period.Read More

Settlement with the State of New York in the Court of Claims for a victim who sustained brain damage while descending a recreational tube slide on a slope negligently designed by New York State.Read More

Verdict against Phillip Brothers Chemical Company, Inc. who failed to adequately warn a worker in an electroplating plant how to properly add zinc cyanide to a brass plating mixture resulting in an explosion causing burns and loss of vision in one eye.Read More

Navigate Our Site

The Finz & Finz, P.C. firm represents clients from New York and surrounding areas, including New York City (NYC), Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, Nassau County, Suffolk County, throughout New York state and nationwide.